A/N: Well I'm back with this story for the last time. I know. Very sad, but I figured I'd kept you waiting long enough :'(
Anyway, I've been experimenting with Divergent fanfiction, and I think I really like Tris/Eric. Which is really annoying, because I want to like Tris/Four...well, I do like Tris/Four, just not as much as Tris/Eric. I think I'm going to watch the movie again and see if I can come up with a Tris/Eric fanfic for it...or maybe a Tris/Four oneshot?...Idk, we'll see.
CelestialTitania suggested that I make a sequel to this story where Gale returns to the reunion with his family. I don't plan on making a sequel, but hopefully this epilogue will be good enough for you :)
Now read on. So you can finally see what name I chose for Katniss and Gale's daughter!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.
Chapter 31: Epilogue~
Eight years later...
Gale sighed as he crossed his arms behind his head, leaning back in his camping chair and enjoying the view.
The dreaded Everdeen family reunion had rolled around again, but this year, he didn't really seem to mind. In fact, he hadn't minded for the past four or five years now. Why was that...?
"Daddy, daddy!"
Oh, that's right.
Smiling, Gale twisted around in his chair, just in time to see his beautiful daughter running excitedly towards him, her mother close behind.
"Guess what, guess what!" She said, eyes wide as her father took her into his arms.
"What? What is it, Taylor?" He asked, eyes wide with excitement himself.
"I won the raffle!" She burst out, and Gale's mouth dropped open.
"Wow! You did?" He exclaimed, resting her on his lap.
"Yep, she did."
Gale turned his head, seeing his wife coming to sit in the seat next to them. Katniss smiled down at Taylor from her place in the chair beside Gale's, and he couldn't help but marvel at her subtle beauty as her attentions were focused on their daughter.
Finally catching himself, he asked, "Uh, so what'd she win?"
Katniss rolled her eyes at him and sighed. "Only the most dangerous thing there."
"Mommy said I can't have it until I'm old enough," Taylor grumbled, crossing her arms in a little pout.
Gale looked sympathetically at her, then at his wife. "...Well, what is it?"
Katniss' eyes shifted uncomfortably away from his, and he knew.
Clearly, she was hiding something.
"Come on, Catnip," he said slowly, pressuring her. "I know you. You can't hide anything from me. Now, come on - what did our beautiful baby girl win?" He finished, throwing Taylor into the air and pressing his face lovingly against hers.
If there was one thing he knew, it was that Katniss was defenseless against Taylor's cute factor. And he wasn't afraid to use it.
Finally relenting, the brunette woman rolled her eyes and, with a groan, turned in her chair and bent down to retrieve the mysterious object their daughter had won.
When she finally brought it up for them to see, Taylor's eyes lit up and Gale stifled a laugh.
"A bow?" He asked, chuckling in disbelief.
"And arrows," Katniss corrected, a firm grip on the weapon.
"Mommy won't let me have it," Taylor said angrily.
"Because it's dangerous-" Katniss said, but Gale cut her off.
"Wait wait wait wait wait...so, you're telling me that our daughter won her first raffle...and you won't even let her have her prize?!"
He was laughing now, but the woman across from him was hardly amused.
"It's a lethal weapon, Gale. Of course I'm not gonna let her have it-"
"Then why did you even let her bid on it?" He asked, baffled.
"Well I didn't think she would actually win! There were like a hundred tickets in there!" She replied, waving her free hand around.
Taylor's mouth dropped open. "You mean you didn't even think I would win?!" She shrieked, putting her mother on the spot.
Gale joined in. "Yeah, you mean you didn't even think she would win?!"
Katniss opened and closed her mouth, trying to defuse the situation. "N- no, I didn't mean it like that, I'm just saying that-"
"You're saying that our daughter can't play with something you use all the time." Gale finished bluntly, and her eyes widened in shock.
"Well I know how to use it. There's a difference-"
"And who would be better to teach her than her own mother?"
Katniss fumbled for a reply but nothing came out, and Gale knew he had her. Taylor knew it too.
"You hypocrite!" She exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at her mom.
Katniss looked taken aback. "W- wha- where did you learn that word?"
"Johanna taught me," the girl clarified, and Gale made a snort of disapproval.
"Figures," he mumbled.
Katniss sighed. "Look, if we're gonna be fighting about it then fine. Let's just get this over with. Taylor, do you wanna learn how to use a bow?"
Her little eyes brightened. "Yes, yes, YES!" She exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her father's lap in excitement.
Katniss exhaled hotly. "Fine...well come on, let's go."
She stood up and her daughter followed suit, bounding off of Gale's knee and trotting up beside her mother to follow her out into the field.
Gale shook his head. Those two...
Done with admiring the view, he stood up from his seat and stretched his arms and legs.
"Feelin' spent, there, old-timer?"
He turned to the source of the voice, his back popping in the process.
Johanna Mason.
"Johanna," he greeted, turning around to face her. "I haven't seen you since that one time I hoped I would never see you again," he smiled, and the spunky woman scoffed.
"Yeah, well, it's hard to be in two places at once when you're making fifty million," she shot back smartly, earning a 'pfft' in response.
She chewed idly, blew a bubble.
"Vilah!" She obnoxiously yelled, and Gale looked past her to see a dark skinned little girl respond to the call.
"Yes, JoJo?" The girl asked, running up to her on stubby legs.
"This is the guy I was telling you about," Johanna smirked, hugging the little girl to her side.
"The one that got hit with the water balloon?" Vilah asked.
Her mother nodded. "Yep."
The girl's eyes widened greatly, and Gale, even in all his five years as a father, had no idea how to react. Tugging on her mother's pant leg, Vilah leaned up to say something as Johanna bent down to meet her.
"Is he homeless?" She whispered loudly.
"No, that's just the way poor people dress," Johanna whispered back, just as loud.
Gale rolled his eyes.
"Now go play," the woman ordered, smiling, and Vilah happily scampered off.
"'JoJo'?" He asked questioningly.
She scowled. "Shut up."
They stood in silence for a moment before Gale found another topic of conversation.
"...So, she yours?" He asked, curious.
"What's it to you?" She shot back defensively, and he shrugged.
"Just wondered. I find it hard to believe that demon spawn can raise children, let alone conceive them."
She scoffed, crossing her arms as she watched Vilah play.
"That's rich...oh no, wait, it's just me."
Gale grunted in annoyance, ready to leave this failing conversation.
"I'll have you know," Johanna began, catching his attention. "That I picked her up last year. I was in Africa at the time and decided I wanted to adopt."
Gale's jaw dropped. "You? Adopt?! As in, take care of another human being?!"
She rolled her eyes. "Don't look so surprised, I've always loved children."
"But you could never eat a whole one, right?"
"You know what, Hawthorne? Why don't you just turn around and go back to your pretty little wife before I smack the living-"
"JoJo, look! A four-leafed clover!"
Johanna abruptly shut her mouth, giving Gale a glare before turning to her adopted daughter.
"Wow, that's great! But that's a three-leafed clover. Go out and find another for me, okay?"
"Okay!" And the little girl was off again.
Heaving a heavy sigh, Johanna took out her gum, wadded it up in a wrapper, and stuffed it in her pocket. Reaching into her other pocket, she pulled out a cigarette and lighter.
"Oh, so you smoke now?" Gale asked, amused.
This was just getting better and better.
"Well, when you're a star, you tend to pick up on a few things," Johanna replied, smiling without humor as she lit her cancer stick.
"I'll bet that's great for Vilah-"
"Shut it, Hawthorne." She said, exhaling the smoke through her nose. It reminded him of an angry bull. "The relationship between a daughter and a mother is...complex...and...subtle- you wipe that damn smirk off your face!"
Vilah came running up again and Gale couldn't contain his laughter. Johanna smiled at the clover her daughter had brought and suggested they go find a box to put it in.
In other words, get the heck away from Gale.
Blowing an angry smoke ring at his face, she grabbed Vilah's hand and left, and Gale shook his head and waved his hands apologetically, coughing from the smoke but still laughing.
Man, he'd forgotten how much fun it was to tease her like that...he'd have to buy a yearbook for these reunions or something-
"Daddy, look!"
He turned around to see Taylor holding her bow, arrow in place, and Katniss crowding her out with her obvious caution.
"Yeah, I see!" He said, waving.
"Look! I'm just like mommy!"
Gale squinted in the evening sun as his wife's eyes widened to saucers. "Taylor, NO!"
He barely had enough time to realize something was wrong before Taylor let go of the bowstring.
Shukk!
"AAHHH!"
Gale fell to the ground, clutching his lower leg. The arrow had gone straight into his kneecap.
Katniss rushed over and Taylor screamed, and Gale was already starting to feel light headed.
Yearbook of the family reunion, he reminded himself.
Right after the hospital...
You may be wondering what happened to everyone else over the span of this time-jump. Well, for starters...
Johanna Mason became a professional baseball player for the International Women's League. She never married, but adopted a four year old girl from Africa named Vilah.
Peeta Mellark moved to Paris and started his own bakery. He married Delly, a local French girl, and together they have four children: Alexa, Jacob, Alison, and Tom.
Finnick Odair went on to become a synchronized swimmer. He has twins, Melody and River, with his wife Anna.
Cato is now a famous MMA fighter. He is currently dating Oksana, his Russian girlfriend of four weeks.
Rory Hawthorne became a wealthy businessman. He now enjoys manipulating the stock market with his wife Amy and their four children: Clara, Donna, Matt, and Martha.
Prim ended up becoming a well-known surgeon. She is currently happily married to fellow doctor Jake Greene, and the two work together to stop celebrities' organs from failing. Together they have two children, Bella and Callie.
As for Gale and Katniss, they get along just fine. Gale worked temporarily as a miner before switching to carpentry. His wife Katniss works part-time as an archery instructor, and both look forward to spending quality time with their daughter Taylor.
A/N: Woo, it's finished! :D I figured I'd go out with a bang, and the image of Gale writhing in pain due to an arrow shot by his own daughter has been in my head since chapter 5 XD
I gotta say, though, that Johanna bit was NOT planned at ALL, but I'm glad it ended up being in there :3
The 'Shukk!' was my attempt at a crappy sound effect. I don't really know if an arrow would sound like that, but it's the closest I could think of. Also, I don't know if there's an Internation Women's League in baseball, but for the sake of this fanfiction, there is. I also couldn't have Finnick go marrying Annie since they're related in this story, so I went with the next best thing: Anna. Different, but virtually the same. You get it.
Sasha, thanks a TON for suggesting Taylor Hawthorne as Katniss and Gale's daughter's name. It really does have a nice ring to it. And don't worry about your auto-correcting typos. I was able to decipher the message, lol XD
And thank you to ALL of those who suggested names! If it weren't for Sasha's review I probably would have gone with Olivia's suggestion, Lily :)
Also, BIG thanks to Swan's Feather for helping me out with the details of what happened to everyone else over the years. I never would have thought of synchronized swimmer for Finnick, no matter how much it made sense D:
Also, Sasha, I have a couple of different ideas for a Galehanna story, of which you're free to take your pick (unless you already have one in mind). The first idea is that Gale and Johanna are coworkers at a store and are competing for position as manager, and number 2 is that Gale takes his family on a cruise and gets stuck with Johanna on a boat for two weeks (or however long cruises usually last). So what do you think? Either of those sound good to you? :D I'm not sure when I'll be able to have your story up and running, but depending on your decision (and the fastness of your response, lol) I can try and have something posted within the next two weeks :)
Again, thank you to EVERYONE who reviewed! Especially Sara Eaton Everdeen; it makes my heart flounder (in a good way) to know that you enjoyed my story enough to review, even though English is not your native language :')
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